NASCAR Column: Earnhardt displeased with plate racing

Published: Sunday, October 7, 2012 at 11:20 PM.

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. has won five races at Talladega Superspeedway. His father won 10. When a NASCAR driver named Earnhardt says “enough is enough,” he deserves an airing of his grievances.

The Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500 ended with the track strewn with as many burnt-out vehicles as tanks left smoldering at El Alamein.

This wasn’t a battle, though. It only resembled one. Everyone walked away.

In the fourth turn of the final lap — which was one too many, owing to overtime — 25 cars crashed, making Matt Kenseth’svictory elementary.

That crash left Earnhardt 20th in the race and, more importantly, 11th among the 12 in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. He is 51 points behind Brad Keselowski, and since Talladega will host no other races this fine autumn, the odds of an Earnhardt championship are as long as the distance from Talladega to El Alamein, which is in Egypt.

The ending was ridiculous, as Earnhardt freely admitted.

“If this is what we did every week, I wouldn’t be doing it,” he said, exasperated. “I will just put it to you like that. If this is how we raced every week, I would find another job.

TALLADEGA, Ala. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. has won five races at Talladega Superspeedway. His father won 10. When a NASCAR driver named Earnhardt says “enough is enough,” he deserves an airing of his grievances.

The Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500 ended with the track strewn with as many burnt-out vehicles as tanks left smoldering at El Alamein.

This wasn’t a battle, though. It only resembled one. Everyone walked away.

In the fourth turn of the final lap — which was one too many, owing to overtime — 25 cars crashed, making Matt Kenseth’svictory elementary.

That crash left Earnhardt 20th in the race and, more importantly, 11th among the 12 in the Chase for the Sprint Cup. He is 51 points behind Brad Keselowski, and since Talladega will host no other races this fine autumn, the odds of an Earnhardt championship are as long as the distance from Talladega to El Alamein, which is in Egypt.

The ending was ridiculous, as Earnhardt freely admitted.

“If this is what we did every week, I wouldn’t be doing it,” he said, exasperated. “I will just put it to you like that. If this is how we raced every week, I would find another job.

“It’s really not racing. I don’t know. It’s a little disappointing how that all went down. That cost a lot of money right there. If this is how we are going to race, and that is how we are going to continue to race and nothing is going to change, I think NASCAR should build the cars. It would save us a lot of money.”

This wasn’t a losing coach blaming his predecessor’s recruits for a 62-0 shellacking. Earnhardt doesn’t play for a second-division team. He has no Bambino-like curse directed against him at Talladega.

Someone attempted to rationalize the … savagery on the basis of the fans “loving it.”

“Really?” replied Earnhardt. “It’s not safe. Wrecking like that is ridiculous. It’s bloodthirsty if that’s what people want. It’s ridiculous.”

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t bloodthirsty because there wasn’t any blood. Ten years ago, there might have been. Ten years ago, drivers sometimes didn’t walk away from apocalyptic horrors like the one that ended Good Sam’s big race.

“I don’t care what anybody says (about) ‘for the good of the sport.’ I mean, it’s good for the here and now and it will get people talking today, but for the long run, that is not going to help the sport, the way that race ended and the way the racing is,” Earnhardt added. “It’s not going to be productive for years to come.

“I don’t even want to go to Daytona or Talladega next year, but I ain’tgot much choice.”